Download LS-DOS 6.3.0 customer service addendum - tim

ADDENDUM #1A
ABOUT LSI SUPPORT SERVICES
==========================
In a product as complicated and as
problems found that are in need of
LSI will from time to time issue a
revisions yourself or you may send
large as an operating system there will always be
correction. In an ongoing effort to support LS-DOS 6.3.x
revision statement. You may, in most cases, make the
your MASTER disk in for updating.
LSI has categorized revisions to fall into two categories. These consist of CRITICAL
REVISIONS and NON-CRITICAL REVISIONS. A CRITICAL revision is a revision that corrects a
problem that could cause damage to, or loss of data. ALL other revisions are considered
NON-CRITICAL. In the event that a CRITICAL revision is issued all registered LS-DOS 6.3
users will be notified by mail. When we create NON-CRITICAL revisions there will be no
individual notification. ALL revisions will be available on the LDOS SIG on CompuServe and
will be published in our column in THE MISOSYS QUARTERLY, which you can subscribe to by
contacting MISOSYS at (703) 450-4181. Should you run into a problem with 6.3 that you
consider a "bug" our Customer Service Department wants very much to hear from you. Most
likely we will already have corrected that problem and will fire off a copy of the
correcting patch by First Class mail. If you are the first to make us aware of the problem
we will give it our most sincere attention. We will also be glad to provide complete
revision statements (patches, etc.) to anyone requesting them, make sure you include your
customer service ID#, with your request, it lets us know what revisions apply to your copy
of the system.
The effort needed to create PATCH files and get the patches correctly installed is tedious,
time consuming and subject to human error. For these reasons LSI has instituted the
following update policy for LS-DOS:
LSI will update your MASTER disk for a service, handling and
shipping fee of JUST $5.00 per disk update. With each update we
will include an outline of what corrections have been made. To
receive this service you must return your original BEIGE LSI
MASTER disk along with a check or money order for $5.00 to:
Logical Systems, Inc.
Update Department
PO Box 55235
Grand Junction, CO. 81505
LSI will also provide a REPLACEMENT MASTER disk to a registered
user, for $10.00. It will be shipped to your REGISTERED address
only. You must include your Customer Service ID Number (CS#) when
requesting a replacement disk and include a check or money order
for $10.00 with your request. (NO CODs, CREDIT CARDS ORP.O.s).
Outside of U.S. or Canada, add $3.00 for update or replacement.
It should be noted that this is the same disk update policy that LSI has had for over five
years. Because we have a simple and inexpensive way for our users to update their system in
an accurate and controlled manner, we will NOT help in any way with the creation,
installation or implementation of upgrade patches for the system. What we are saying is that
if you cannot deal with, or are uncomfortable with patch installation totally on your own,
then SEND IN YOUR DISK FOR UPDATING, as stated above.
We would like to point out that we do provide LS-DOS 6.3 as an "AS IS" product. No warranty
of ANY kind is stated or implied. LSI has always tried to provide a reasonable level of
support for our products and we hope to continue to do so, but we are not obligated to any
service, update, error correction or ongoing support policy. Our policies may change from
time to time and we feel that changing our policies on "AS IS" products is our right. LS-DOS
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6.3 is provided to you at a very nominal fee. We simply do not make enough profit to provide
unlimited, free services at this level of pricing.
Please consider the position of the authors of CPM and MSDOS, neither provide anywhere near
the level of phone and mail customer service that LSI provides and their products cost much
more. When CPM and MSDOS are updated or revised (even to correct their own errors) in most
cases, you must simply BUY the new version, as of now the "latest and greatest" version of
MSDOS is somewhat over $100.00. At LSI we have paid a total of OVER $1800.00 over the last
five years to keep current with MSDOS/PCDOS revisions. In the same time frame a TRSDOS 6.x
and LS-DOS 6.3 user could not have paid more then a total of $95.00 to keep his DOS current,
quite a difference we think. Try calling one of the other DOS authors and getting your
questions answered, at least we are willing to TALK directly to our users.
We are sure you can cite some situations where other software companies have provided
excellent service and stood behind their products, with nominal or no fees, but remember LSI
has a NINE YEAR track record of such service. Also, how good has your support been on other
$29 or $39 products?? So, please do not complain to us about our support policies, if
anything our support policies and services will become LESS liberal, and MORE expensive in
the future, due to simple economics. LSI also reserves the right to totally terminate
support for any product sold "AS IS", without notice.
LSI RETURN POLICY
=================
Should you find any the LSI support policy, or the "AS IS" condition under which LS-DOS is
provided, unacceptable to you, OR FOR ANY OTHER REASON, you may return your LS-DOS 6.3,
within 10 days of receipt, for a full refund. If you purchased on a credit card, please
include the card number and expiration date so we can properly credit your account. Note:
You must return the product completely intact and inresalable condition to receive a
refund. Shipping and handling charges are not refundable.
Simply stated: WE WANT YOU TO BE A SATISFIED CUSTOMER.
WORKING WITH OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT
============================================
Our customer service department will be happy to answer any question about the use and
function of LS-DOS 6.3.x. by either written request or by phone. When making a written
request be as specific as possible and include as much information as possible: screen
prints, copies of disks, printouts, exact keyboard sequences, error messages, etc. are all
helpful. Remember, vague questions will get vague responses. When calling customer service
it is best if you can be at your computer so we can have you check things, however this is
not a requirement. Always include your Customer Service ID# (NOT your serial #) on your
correspondence with LSI or it will have to be ignored, sorry, there are no exceptions. Also,
PLEASE provide us with a phone number where we can reach you, a DAY and EVENING number
helps. We return all answers to the registered address for that Customer Service ID# and
each one IS checked.
IMPORTANT: WHEN PHONING OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT YOU MUST USE THE PHONE NUMBER FOR
CUSTOMER SERVICE (SEE PAGE 16 OF YOUR 6.3 DOCUMENTATION). CALLING OUR MAIN NUMBER WON'T GET
YOU TO THE RIGHT PLACE. THE CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT IS IN A SEPARATE PART OF OUR
BUILDING AND HAS A SEPARATE PHONE SYSTEM.
Please do NOT ask questions about products other then LS-DOS 6.3 as we probably do not know
the answers. If you have a program that does not work on 6.3, it is most likely not the
fault of LSI. The entire program interface, as documented for 6.2.x is identical to that of
6.3.x. So if a program fails to run identically on 6.2 and 6.3, it is probably the fault of
the author of that program, NOT LSI. To get the program to run correctly on 6.3 you will
have to contact the author/supplier of that program. If that can not be done you may have to
be content to run the product on 6.2.x. The fact that it may run just fine on 6.2 and does
not run on 6.3 is of great concern to us, but does not mean 6.3 is at fault in any way. Any
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program that does not run correctly on 6.3, but did on 6.2, has probably violated documented
interface standards and the program is at fault.
There are THOUSANDS of programs being run on the Model-4 and it would be impossible to
support all of them, especially when we are providing LS-DOS at such a small cost to the
user. In most cases we do not even have the program you are asking about, much less the
source code for that program. Our policy will be very firm -<>- Users can NOT rely SOLELY on
LSI for assistance with products other then LS-DOS 6.3.x itself -<>- This does not mean that
if we have information that can be of help to you that we won't tell you, we will. But in
most cases we just won't have any knowledge that would be of help.
There are places to get useful information about applications running on your Model-4. Users
of the Model-4 system should subscribe to "80-MICRO" magazine. You should be a member of
CompuServe and check in to the LDOS special interest group bulletin board on a regular
basis. This is an excellent place to ask questions, any questions, and get answers from
other users. Another great source of accurate and timely information is THE MISOSYS
QUARTERLY, call MISOSYS at (703) 450-4181.
We will answer technical questions about LS-DOS, BUT IN A GENERAL SENSE ONLY. This means we
will try to answer questions if the answer is to provide general information about our
system and its function. We will not answer specific PROGRAMMING QUESTIONS. If you wish to
program over LS-DOS 6.3 you should have the technical reference manual from Tandy (26-2119)
and the "Programmers Guide to TRSDOS 6.x" and the "SOURCE CODE TO 6.2" from MISOSYS. Great
amounts of accurate technical information and a special LS-DOS section dedicated to your 6.3
system are also available in THE MISOSYS QUARTERLY, from MISOSYS.
Normally we will not provide patches to custom configure your system. Patches to change
system defaults and to modify system functions may become available from sources other then
LSI. Please do not expect LSI to get involved with these in any way. However, LSI may from
time to time issue an optional patch to alter a default or modify a function. If we do, we
will publish it and support it. LSI will decide if, when, how, and what to offer an optional
patch for.
HERE ARE THE ANSWERS TO THE MOST COMMON USER PROBLEMS
=====================================================
*** QUESTION:
I JUST RECEIVED MY 6.3 DISK AND I GET A PARITY ERROR (OR OTHER READ ERROR) WHEN I TRY TO
MAKE A COPY OF THE MASTER, OR MY MASTER DISK WON'T EVEN BOOT ??
ANSWER:
The drives that we produced your MASTER disk on are kept in near perfect alignment and
checked daily. This type of problem is most likely to occur if your Drive :0 is slightly out
of alignment. Try this:
>
>
>
>
>
BOOT UP with a 6.2 disk as you normally would.
Place your LSI MASTER 6.3 in drive :1
Do the command: DISKCOPY.UTILITY :1 :0 <ENTER>
At the insert disks prompt, place a blank disk in Drive :0
Press <ENTER>
If this procedure goes through without an ERROR message then you have succeeded in
duplicating your MASTER disk to your drive :0. The disk in drive :0 will now be a fully
functional and usable system in your boot drive. BUT, your drive :0 should be realigned.
If this procedure does not complete without ERROR then your MASTER disk probably is
defective or was damaged in shipping. DON'T PANIC - just let us know and we will send you a
fresh one in a RIGID, ANTI-STATIC package, and we will do it quickly.
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*** QUESTION:
HOW DO I ENABLE MORE FLOPPY DISK DRIVES WITH MY LS-DOS 6.3 ??
ANSWER:
The easiest way is to refer to the SYSTEM command in your manual for information on ENABLING
and DISABLING drives. The SYSGEN command will then save these desired states and initialize
them when you boot up. The commands you would use to enable 2 additional drives as drives #2
and #3 are:
SYSTEM (DRIVE=2,ENABLE) <ENTER>
SYSTEM (DRIVE=3,ENABLE) <ENTER>
SYSGEN <ENTER>
This is all there is to it..... simple and straight from the 6.2.0 manual.
Another way would be to "PATCH" the operating system so that the drives are enabled from the
start. Although this is NOT the recommended method, it is safe and can be used without
problems. To make these patches you would execute the following commands:
PATCH BOOT/SYS.LSIDOS:0 (D02,84=C3:F02,84=C9) <ENTER>
PATCH BOOT/SYS.LSIDOS:0 (D02,8E=C3:F02,8E=C9) <ENTER>
Note: The first patch line ENABLES drive #2 the second patch line ENABLES drive #3. You must
re-BOOT after installing for these patches to take effect.
One other method of turning on extra drives or other "environment" arrangements is to put
them in a JCL file called INIT/JCL and then set an "AUTO DO INIT" on your boot disk. This
method is most frequently used at LSI.
*** QUESTION:
I WANT TO GET A COPY OF THE CURRENT 6.2 USER AND/OR TECHNICAL REFERENCE MANUAL, WHAT DO I
DO?
ANSWER:
Simple, get in touch with Radio Shack, the current 6.2 user manual is available as part
#26-0316, the technical reference manual is part #26-2119. If you do not have these or have
old versions LSI would recommend that you obtain them while you can.
*** QUESTION:
DATECONV GIVES A MESSAGE "CAN'T CONVERT DATES ON NON-6.3 SYSTEM DISKS"??
ANSWER:
Very simple to correct. At one time the disks' directory was marked as being a "SYSTEM" type
disk. This can occur in several ways, none of which are damaging to your data. Why it
happened is really not important at this point so let's cure it. LSI suspected that this may
become a problem for some of our users so we provided an "undocumented parameter" to
override the checking for this in DATECONV. Use the command:
DATECONV :d (CS) <ENTER>
The (CS) is the parameter, it simply stands for Customer Service. This overrides the
protection for NON-6.3 system disks, so be careful. Check any disk you use this on to make
sure that it has only the /SYS files BOOT and DIR, if any other /SYS files are on the disk
DO NOT USE THE CS PARAMETER!!! These /SYS files must be PURGED before you proceed. The (CS)
parameter is to BE USED ON DATA DISKS ONLY.
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*** QUESTION:
HOW DO I MAKE A DOUBLE SIDED SYSTEM DISK THAT WILL BE LAID OUT CORRECTLY ??
ANSWER:
The main reason to have a system disk laid out "CORRECTLY" is so the system modules will be
clustered around the directory to reduce access time to these frequently used /SYS files.
Here is a very simple JCL which will do just that.
====================================================================
. DOUBLE/JCL
. JCL Procedure to create a double sided SYSTEM disk
. SOURCE (S) and DESTINATION (D) must be set on JCL COMMAND LINE
.
FORMAT :#D# (SIDES=2,ABS,NAME="LSDOS63",Q=N)
MEMORY (A="A",B=17)
BACKUP /SYS:#S# :#D# (S)
MEMORY (A="A",B=11)
BACKUP :#S# :#D# (I)
MEMORY (A="A",B=1)
.
. A correctly structured, double sided SYSTEM disk has been created.
. END
====================================================================
The above commands can of course be entered as individual commands at DOS ready with the
same results. For convenience and accuracy we at LSI tend to use this JCL. The important
part of this procedure is the use of the MEMORY command to set the "A" flag. This is the
Allocation flag for the operating system and the number in this flag is the track on the
disk where the file placement system will start to search for space on the disk.
This is a very valuable thing to know about and use. This will allow you to structure your
own disks in any manner that you wish, and to restructure and repack disks for efficiency.
The normal setting of the "A" flag is for track #1.
YES, those of you with hard drive should use a similar method when applying the system to
your drive. Start the /SYS backup 2 tracks below the directory of your hard drive, by
setting the "A" flag accordingly. Do the rest of the backup starting about 5 tracks below
the directory. If you did not do something like this when you first set up your hard drive,
you should reformat and do so now. This optimizing of the system on your hard drive will
greatly increase the overall speed of your system.
*** QUESTION:
ON 6.2 I HAD A PATCH TO HAVE FORMAT DEFAULT TO DOUBLE SIDED, DOUBLE DENSITY AND 40 TRACKS.
WHAT IS THE PATCH FOR THIS ON 6.3 ??
ANSWER:
If the patch that you were using for 6.2 was:
PATCH FORMAT/CMD.UTILITY (D09,5B=O2:FO9,5B=OO) <ENTER>
Then on 6.3 it would be:
PATCH FORMAT/CMD.UTILITY (D09,65=02:FO9,65=00) <ENTER>
FORMAT will now default to DD/DS-40 track format. If you want a different format you will
now have to specify same in the command line for format (see FORMAT in your 6.2 manual).
NOTE: THIS IS WHY LSI DOES NOT RECOMMEND THIS PATCH!! Users forget that they have made this
patch and then call us saying "Your system is NO GOOD it won't even let me format a single
sided disk".
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*** QUESTION:
I FOLLOWED ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR UPDATING MY HARD DRIVE SYSTEM BUT I STILL CAN'T SEEM TO
GET IT TO WORK PROPERLY WHAT DO I DO ??
ANSWER:
The instructions for updating your hard drive system will work in almost all cases, but
there are some systems that will require another method. If your system is one of the odd
ones you can try a RE-SETUP.
NOTE: BEFORE DOING ANY UPGRADE TO A HARD DRIVE, IT IS EXPECTED THAT YOU WILL HAVE MADE A
COMPLETE BACKUP OF ALL THE IMPORTANT DATA AND FILES OFF OF THAT HARD DRIVE BEFORE YOU BEGIN.
THIS IS ONLY COMMON SENSE.
First you MUST start with a CLEAN exact copy of your LS-DOS 6.3 DISK made with DISKCOPY.
Next using PURGE or REMOVE get rid of some files you won't be needing on this disk, keeping
in mind that this is to become your BOOT DISK. We suggest you REMOVE DOS/HLP, this should
give you amble room on the disk.
Now, using COPY, put your hard disk DRIVER program onto this disk, this is the program used
to set up your hard drive that has the extension /DCT. Then copy the hard disk formatting
program that came with your system onto the disk.
Now you must refer to the documentation that came with your hard disk software and perform a
manual SETUP of the hard drive. You must set up the drive in such a manner that it will be
partitioned in the identical manner as it was before you began your upgrading. If a SYSTEM
(SYSTEM=d) command is requested as part of the setup DO NOT DO IT YET.
If all has gone well you should now have your hard drive accessible now. Test this by doing
a DIR on each of the logical drive numbers now designated to be on your hard drive. If
everything seems correct you should now put 6.3.0 onto the hard drive surface that contained
your 6.2.0 do this with:
BACKUP :0 :d (S,I) <ENTER>
If you have followed the instruction drive 0 should still contain a fresh 6.3.0 that is
missing the DOS/HLP file. Replace the "d" in the backup command with the present logical
drive number for the hard drive partition that will become drive 0.
After the BACKUP has completed you should do a:
SYSTEM (SYSTEM=d) <ENTER>
Replace the "d" above with the same drive number used in the backup above. This will swap
drive 0 with drive "d". Test things a bit by doing a DIR :0. If all is well you should get
the directory of your hard drive SYSTEM platter. If this checks out OK then is time to save
things, so do a:
SYSGEN (DRIVE=d) <ENTER>
Again replace the "d" with the same drive number as before. This will cause this SYSGEN to
go to the 6.3.0 floppy that is in the PHYSICAL drive position :0. You should now be able to
RESET the system and it should end up running correctly.
If you will be using the HELP command you should copy DOS/HLP onto hard drive :0 from a
fresh copy of 6.3.0. This will complete the setup of the system. You now can reboot and then
add any addition setup you may require in your SYSGEN or create an AUTO function. Just make
sure that any SYSGEN or AUTO you do is specified to the BOOT floppy drive
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If the above procedure fails in any way you will have to contact the company that provided
you with your DRIVER AND FORMATTER for the hard drive. You may have to RE-FORMAT the whole
drive or something else. DO NOT call LSI unless you are using the OFFICIAL Radio Shack
driver and formatter, these are the ones we wrote and understand. There are many other
drivers and formatters out there for drives other than Radio Shacks or for special purposes.
We can't help with those, sorry.
*** QUESTION:
HOW LONG IS LSI GOING TO SUPPORT LS-DOS 6.3.0 ON THE MODEL-4 ??
ANSWER:
Honestly, at this time we don't know. Three things will be given consideration in
determining when we will stop. First, as long as there are enough questions and interest
from users to justify keeping a customer service department running we will try to do so.
Second, we will have to feel confident that there are NO serious problems with the Operating
System that would require our attention. Lastly we MUST consider economics: LSDOS 6.3.0 is
not an expensive product, LSI HAS TO SHIP OVER 500 COPIES PER MONTH JUST TO BREAK EVEN. When
the cash flow stops the support may have to stop, there simply may not be an alternative.
But we will do the best we can.
Full support of LS-DOS will certainly continue through all of 1987 and most likely through
most of 1988, possibly much longer.
*** QUESTION:
THE ANTI-PIRACY PROTECTION SCHEME ON LS-DOS 6.3 SCARES ME. I'M AFRAID SOMETHING MIGHT GO
WRONG WITH IT AND I WILL LOSE VALUABLE DATA ??
ANSWER:
Not to worry. You are right to assume that the protection system is VERY sophisticated, it
cannot even be found using any conventional software technique. LSI spent much time and
effort in the design and testing of this protection system and we can assure you that: "NO
MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, NO LEGITIMATE USERS WILL EVER LOSE DATA OR HAVE ANY OTHER PROBLEM WITH
THIS PROTECTION SYSTEM" - "PIRATES OR USERS WHO VIOLATE OUR LICENSE AGREEMENT WILL HAVE
TROUBLE WITH THE SYSTEM"
We will know if, and when, a violation occurs based on the problems that are reported by the
user. But, under no circumstances will the PROTECTION SYSTEM ever damage DATA.
*** QUESTION:
THIS 6.2 PROGRAM DISK WOULD "SYSGEN" WHEN IT WAS BOOTED BUT AFTER CONVERTING IT TO LS-DOS
6.3 IT DOESN'T "SYSGEN" ANY MORE. HOW CAN I EASILY TRANSFER THE SYSGEN FROM A 6.2 TO A 6.3
DISK?
ANSWER:
Here is an easy procedure, but it doesn't work in all cases. Lets assume that you have
already made a copy of the 6.2 disk and updated it to 6.3 by following the usual
instructions. Now you are ready to transfer theconfig/sys file. Boot up on the original
(6.2) disk that has the configuration that you want to transfer and be sure to wait for the
SYSGEN to complete. Next, put the disk you updated to 6.3 in drive :1 and do a SYSGEN
(DRIVE=1). That is all there is to it, but test it very completely before you destroy your
backups. This will fail if other files that are needed are not present. In this case, you
should contact the supplier of that program for a version that will work on LSDOS 6.3.
If you set up the original configuration that wasSYSGEN'd, and just don't remember what it
was, use the DEVICE command with the (B) parameter to look at the configuration.
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*** QUESTION:
I ONLY HAVE ONE 40 TRACK DRIVE SO DISKCOPY DOESN'T WORK FOR ME. HOW CAN I MAKE A BACKUP OF
THE LS-DOS 6.3 MASTER DISK?
ANSWER:
Diskcopy does not work on single drive system, so a backup copy of your LS-DOS 6.3 master
disk has to be made the old way. First, boot on LS-DOS 6.3, and then FORMAT :0 a fresh disk.
Second, BACKUP :0 :0, using the LS-DOS 6.3 master as the source disk and the newly formatted
disk as destination disk.
Everything else should proceed normally, using the instructions that you already have. You
would update other system floppies from the hard drive after you have updated it to LS-DOS
6.3.
*** QUESTION:
HOW CAN I MAKE A BUNCH OF BLANK, FORMATTED DISKS, REAL QUICK ??
ANSWER:
Format a blank disk in the normal fashion using the FORMAT command in LS-DOS 6.3. Now simply
use DISKCOPY to make copies of this blank disk. DISKCOPY is very smart and only duplicates
tracks that contain real data, blank tracks are just formatted and verified. Try it, you
will be amazed at the speed.
*** QUESTION:
MY DRIVE 0 IS AN 80 TRACK DRIVE. HOW CAN I MAKE A BACKUP OF THE LS-DOS 6.3 MASTER DISK?
ANSWER:
Surely, you have a 40 track drive somewhere in your system, use the same procedure as above
for single drive systems, changing the drive number appropriately. An optimized 80 track
system disk can be created using a procedure similar to the one given earlier in this
addendum for creating an optimized double sided system disk.
*** QUESTION:
I NEVER UPGRADED TO TRSDOS 6.2. HOW DO I SKIP 6.2 AND GO DIRECTLY TO 6.3?
ANSWER:
FORMAT fresh disks with LS-DOS 6.3 and use 6.3's BACKUP to transfer the files from your 6.0
or 6.1 disks. Keep the originals until you are sure that all of your programs are working
correctly on 6.3.
You still should have (or get) the TRSDOS 6.2 manual for the documentation of the many
features that were added in 6.2.
*** QUESTION:
WHY DOESN'T TED WORK ON BASIC PROGRAMS OR DATA FILES?
ANSWER:
This question surprised us but it keeps popping up. TED was never intended to be a direct
BASIC editor. TED is an ASCII text editor. This means that TED is designed to edit text
files that are in ASCII format. Most Basic data files are not ASCII text files and there is
no reason to expect TED to work on them at all. TED can work on Basic programs that were
saved with the "A" option and are, therefore, in ASCII format, but there will be no syntax
checking.
8
*** QUESTION:
AFTER UPDATING MY DISK AND EVEN USING DATECONV, IT STILL SAYS TRSDOS62 IN THE HEADING WHEN I
LIST THE DIRECTORY.
ANSWER:
That field in the directory listing is just the disk name. You can change it to whatever you
want with the ATTRIB command.
*** QUESTION:
WHY CAN'T I EDIT OUT THE "LIST OCATE" IN MY BASIC PROGRAM?
ANSWER:
Or you may be getting "EDIT" or "DELETE" or "AUTO" at the beginning of the some line in your
Basic program. Usually this will occur when you are loading in a program from some other
source in ASCII format. What is happening is that if the first word in the line is not a
reserved keyword, and if the first letter of the word is either a "A", "D", "E", or "L",
that first letter is expanded to "AUTO", "DELETE", "EDIT", or "LIST", respectively. The way
to correct it is to correct the word. There are always details of syntax to take care of
when converting Basic programs from one version to another. The search and replace function
of a text editor or word processor can make it quite easy to take care of such details while
you have the program in ASCII format.
*** QUESTION:
MY BASIC PROGRAM WORKED ON 6.2, BUT ON 6.3 I GET AN OUT OF MEMORY MESSAGE. WHAT DO I DO
ABOUT IT?
ANSWER:
To add in the new enhancements to Basic, it was necessary to increase the amount of memory
that Basic itself occupies, thereby reducing the available memory for programs. If your
program uses close to the maximum available memory, it may not work on the enhanced Basic,
but that is not a big problem because you can use the Basic from TRSDOS 6.2 with LS-DOS 6.3.
The enhancements do not affect the run-time performance in anyway.
To put the 6.2 Basic back onto your disks, first PURGEBASIC:d (INV) to delete all three
files 6.3 Basic. Then, do BACKUP BASIC:s :d (I), where drive s holds a disk with 6.2 Basic
on it and drive d holds the destination disk.
*** QUESTION:
WHY AREN'T TED, DISKCOPY AND THE NEW BASIC ENHANCEMENTS TRANSFERRED TO MY DISKS IN THE
UPDATE PROCEDURE?
ANSWER:
Because there may not be enough room! You may not want them on all of your system disks,
anyway. It is easy enough for you to put these programs on any disk you want to with the
BACKUP command. Don't forget that BACKUP can copy single files as well as groups of files.
*** QUESTION:
CAN I HAVE THE "KILL" COMMAND BACK?
ANSWER:
Sure, but there is a trade off. You can't have BOTH "KILL" AND "REMOVE". "KILL" was just a
synonym for "REMOVE", which means that they both did exactly the same thing. "REMOVE" is
used in many commercial programs and if you use the following patch to rename "REMOVE" to
"KILL", those programs may no longer work. With that caveat, here is the patch:
PATCH SYS1/SYS.LSIDOS (D02,15="KILLbb":F02,15="REMOVE")
The TWO lower case b's after KILL, are to be replaced with spaces before you do the patch
and are important!
9
*** QUESTION:
HOW CAN I READ 6.3 FILES ON MY MODEL I or III?
ANSWER:
With the LDOS operating system on either the Model I or Model III, you can read LS-DOS
disks. Moving between LDOS 5.3 AND LS-DOS 6.3 will be no problem, of course. With LDOS 5.0
or 5.1, you may in some cases be denied access, which can be corrected by using TRSDOS 6.2
and ATTRIB to change the PROTection level to FULL and the owner and user passwords to
blanks. LDOS 5.3 is not available for the Model I.
*** QUESTION:
Why doesn't PRINT CHR$(15) turn the cursor off like it used to?
ANSWER:
Actually, it still does, but there WAS a bug that is now fixed. What happens is this: when
execution of a program in basic is ended, and you are returned back to the Basic Ready
prompt, Basic is supposed to tidy up a few details, just in case the program left a mess.
One of those details is to turn the cursor on. So when you do a PRINT CHR$(15); from the
Basic Ready prompt, it looks like nothing happens. Indeed the net result is that you are
back where you started. But put exactly the same statement inside a program, followed by a
statement that should present a cursor, INPUT A$ for example, and the cursor is gone! Then
comes the end of the program and the Basic Ready prompt, complete with cursor. This can
affect video that is routed to printers if they happen to respond to this code. If you BREAK
out of a program, the cursor will be turned back on at Ready and will still be on when you
CONTinue.
The current behavior is correct but for those of you that prefer it the way it was, here is
a patch for you that makes the cursor behave just like it did before the bug was fixed:
PATCH BASIC/CMD.BASIC (D55,1B=00:F55,1B=EF)
NOTE! THIS IS NOT A RECOMMENDED PATCH.
*** QUESTION:
WHERE IS THE CUSTOMER SERVICE ID# EXACTLY?
ANSWER:
Let me spell out in detail exactly how to find your customer service number. We assume, of
course that you are familiar with booting the LS-DOS 6.3 and getting to the "LS-DOS Ready"
prompt. From there, type ID<enter>. Just three keystrokes! Your computer will respond with
"CS# XXXXX" and then give you the "LS-DOS Ready" prompt again. The 5 digit number that I
have represented here with XXXXX is your customer service number. Please write it legibly on
your registration card in the space labeled "ID Number".
*** QUESTION:
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE LEVEL DESIGNATOR?
ANSWER:
At this time, "K" and "L" are the most recent Levels released by LSI. Level "K" indicates
that the update was done "in the field" and Level "L" indicates that either the update was
done by LSI or it was produced while "L" was (is) the current production release. If a new
Level is issued, it would also be in a pair -- M and N with the same distinction. The
purpose of this is to help us provide better customer support.
Please note that when LSI creates NON-CRITICAL revisions there will be no individual
notification. I am sure that you understand that for such a low priced product, such
notification would be prohibitively expensive.
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*** QUESTION:
HOW CAN I ACCESS 6.3 DATA FILES FROM TRSDOS 6.X OR LDOS?
ANSWER:
One approach is to use a disk that was formatted by TRSDOS 6.2 and don't use DATECONV on it.
LS-DOS 6.3 will leave the user password field alone on a 6.2 disk, it just won't put the
time-stamp on it.
But it is too late for that approach on a file that you have already created on 6.3. Boot up
on a 6.2 system disk. Use 6.2's ATTRIB command to set thePROTection level to FULL and
change both the owner and user password to blanks.
ATTRIB filespec (USER="",OWNER="",PROT=FULL)
*** QUESTION:
WILL TANDY SUPPORT LS-DOS 6.3, TOO?
ANSWER:
Yes. LS-DOS 6.3 is the official supported operating system for the Model 4/4P/4D and BOTH
Tandy and LSI are supporting it.
*** QUESTION:
WHY DOESN'T THE EXAMPLE FOR USING USR11 WORK?
ANSWER:
For clarity, we used "ARRAY" for the name of the array in the example, but the actual name
of the array used to pass the parameters to USR11 must be only one or two characters long.
If the name of the array is longer than two characters, USR11 can't check the array type bit
because of some technical details of the way VARPTR works. There is a patch that disables
the error check and will let you use a longer array name. Call or write to Customer Service
if you want it.
************ OUR PARTING COMMENT ************
ALL USERS: Please do yourself a BIG favor and carefully read the following sections of your
TRSDOS Version 6.2 Reference Manual: BACKUP / FORMAT / SYSTEM / SYSGEN.
A very large portion of the questions we get from users could be answered if the user had a
clear understanding of ALL the functions in these four areas of the TRSDOS and LSDOS
systems.
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